There was a message waiting for Bernie Wrightson after the Olympic diving trials in 1964. Although it came through loud and clear, it was no less devastating.

Wrightson had progressed through Denver East High School and was competing at Arizona State University as a top-flight diver. He was feeling pretty good about himself after being named first alternate for the U.S. Olympic diving team. The destination for the Summer Olympic Games was Tokyo.

But when reality set in, he didn’t feel so good.

“The only thing the first alternate gets to do is wave goodbye to the team when it leaves for the Games,” Wrightson said. “That wasn’t very much fun.”

Four years later, Wrightson didn’t wave goodbye to anyone. He made the Olympic team and competed in Mexico City, where he won the gold medal in the 3-meter springboard.

“The gold medal was a big deal,” Wrightson said. “But it’s not something that stayed with me. It was the end of my diving career. I had to look ahead to the next challenge in my life.”

The gold medal, having survived a long-ago house burglary, hangs on the wall in his office.

For Wrightson, his memories of the 1968 Games include far more than the diving competition. His wife, Cathy, was at his side most of the time.

“Mexico City was the Olympics just before Munich, and there was no security whatsoever,” he said. “Cathy stayed in the women’s dorm, and everyone would come and go about as they pleased. It was lot of fun and really special because Cathy went through it with me.”

In those days, there wasn’t a cash reward from the United States Olympic Committee for winning Olympic medals. However, Wrightson didn’t come away empty-handed. His reward was a 16-foot diving board he had shipped back to Denver and gave to one of his coaches.

Wrightson credits his time with three coaches for helping make him an Olympic champion. Roger Seick spotted his potential and helped him focus on diving during his visits to the YMCA. Jim Hartman, the longtime coach in the Denver Prep League, helped keep Wrightson’s interest alive as he entered high school. Tom DeLong, an assistant coach at the University of Denver and recipient of the diving board from Mexico City, allowed him to train alongside college competitors.

If Wrightson had been a basketball player, he would have been known as a gym rat. In this case, he called himself a YMCA rat, spending countless hours diving at the Y.

“I’d leave school and get on a bus and go to the YMCA at 16th and Lincoln,” Wrightson said. “It had an old, wooden diving board. But I’d stay until they kicked me out.”

Diving at the YMCA was an almost daily routine for Wrightson until he entered Morey Junior High, which had a pool and diving area. The Denver Prep League held its swimming meets at Morey, and Wrightson became impressed with the performance of Johnny Quintana of Denver North, who was the best diver in the league in those days. Gymnastics had been a major part of Wrightson’s sports interest up to then, but after watching Quintana, he focused on becoming the best diver he could.

Wrightson quickly learned that becoming a premier athlete would take a lot of work.

After winning the state high school championship as a junior, Wrightson admitted he felt “bulletproof and invincible.” He entered the National AAU championships in the summer and traveled to California for the competition. There were 32 entrants. He finished 32nd.

“That really built a fire under me,” Wrightson said. “I came back knowing I wanted to win in that kind of competition. I never lost again in high school.”

Wrightson went on to Arizona State, where he won an NCAA title. Along the way, he won seven National AAU titles and a Pan American Games championship before his success in Mexico City.

After winning the gold medal in 1968, Wrightson’s life changed.

“That was it for me and my diving career,” Wrightson said. “I had graduated from ASU two years before, I had time in the Naval Reserve and I was the old guy then.”

Wrightson bounced around on the staffs of athletic clubs for three years, and then became a stockbroker. He retired in 2008 to what he calls a nice home in a good property outside of San Diego.

“I participated in more than 70 championships when I was competing,” Wrightson said. “Every place I went to, I had a purpose other than the diving. I met a lot of different people. I wanted to accomplish something rather than just exist.”

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